Freeborn's Lament

Moraine Lake

In the center of the scene, floating on the lake are two kayaks, providing a sense of scale of the for the ten mountain peaks that tower over Moraine Lake. "The majesty of the mountains engulfed us".

The Endless Range

The image on the left is nice, scenic, picturesque even. For the image on the right however, I concentrated on letting the peak be as tall of possible. Let the mountains be as tall as possible. "Compose the photograph so that the top of the mountain or highest point of interest is at the very top of the image frame". The result, is a different composition. The image on the right is more majestic.

Columbia Icefield and the Athabasca Glacier

Coleman, like many photographers and painters effected scale by positioning a tree in the foreground of his canvas or print, thereby allowing us to judge from the relative size of the tree the mass of the mountain looming over and around it. From our perch on the rocks there was a magnificent view of the central Rockies, including the Columbia Icefields.- Arthur Coleman

Winter Majesty

"He was huge, with a massive head, made even larger by his heavy coat of winter hair". Frost and snow covered his face and I could see his warm breath in the frosty air. Wow! This guy is majestic I thought to myself. And indeed, he is as you can see from the photograph. His size in the image though, is amplified by the contrasting scale of the plants in front of his face.

Mountain Wall, Near Bow Lake

Showing only part of the mountain, implies that it towers even beyond the top of the frame.

Mountain Shapes

Shapes are a basic element of design and are used to convey meaning. In any photograph or artwork, shapes and forms speak to us in the language of power. Squares and rectangles, communicate solid stability and the trees along the ridge provide perspective.

A Jagged Line of Mountains

Lines are another effective compositional tool that can convey power. The severe, angled, and jagged lines seen in towering cliffs and precipitous slopes can be isolated, emphasized and exaggerated in a composition by the choice of point of view.

Mountain Light

Mountain light and the interplay of light and shadow, colour and cloud. Coleman wrote of how “blue and purple shadows began to creep from point to point, till all was soft and ethereal” and it is in this kind of interplay that the mountains begin to come to life.

Texture

By the east park gates in Jasper, there is a mountain whose veins and striations have etched its rock face, exposing an aged and ancient countenance.

Ancient

A sense of age can be felt in the furrowed lines and heavily textured bark of old trees. Age, like the symbolic power of snow and ice, talks to us of an enduring capacity to withstand the ravages of time.

Mount Kerkeslin

The interplay of light and shadow can add a sense of majesty.

Alpenglow

Alpenglow adds fire and vitality to mountain majesty.